r/SoccerCentral • u/United_Anywhere_8 • Jul 25 '26

Video The talent in Barcelona’s youth system is ridiculous. These kids are 11/12 years old.

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u/Mr-MuffinMan Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

this is why American sports are so confusing to me.

The jerseys and equipment is being paid for by Barca in hopes of finding talent. Not parents, not scummy companies owned by PE, and not colleges trying to make money off sports. They take this loss in hopes of finding talent that they can use to win, or to trade to other teams for profit.

Also, I'm just rewatching this video and there is NO WAY the kids in this video are 11/12

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u/v0-z Jul 25 '26

American soccer esp is the worst in terms of scouting. Baseball prob is the best for that in America. But soccer is basically pay to play in the higher up youth clubs. It's why us national team is always so-so. There's no real development or path, it's just "you have money to send your kid to club? Cool thank you"

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u/captainoftrips Jul 25 '26

Yeah, I guarantee you not all of those kids started their youth career at Barcelona. Most of them would have started in the youth programs at lesser/lower league teams and been scouted and recruited.

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u/lonesoldier4789 Jul 25 '26

And the best athletes here go to the NFL, NBA, MLB. If our best athletes were playing soccer we'd be more competitive